And done. Clocking in at 79 hours, I did the side-quests that interested me and most of the contracts that I stumbled upon. Explored about 55-60% of the map at first glance, and I'm nowhere near 100% completion I mosly blazed throught the third act in order to see what the story holds. I believe this will be the first Witcher game that I finish twice.
The story is overall very good, but sadly uneven. Skellige is good, the battle for Kaer Morhen is great and the story surrounding the Baron is amazing, but both quest chains in Novigrad plod along. The main quest design is mostly go to point A, cutscene, go to point B, cutscene, but the cutscenes are great so it works well. Ciri's interactions with Geralt are a definite highlight of the game. My only real complaint is the lack of compelling antagonists, save for maybe the Crones. Nothing even approaches Letho. I also feel that main quest doesn,t have quite enough important choices
Side-quests are freaking amazing. Easily the high point of the game, they are highly detailed and polished, often with a choice in it, even in the case of some Contracts. I do think Witcher senses are slightly overused, but that's a minor quibble. Probably the best designed side-quests in any RPG I've seen save maybe for New Vegas and Planescape Torment.
Combat does its job, but little more. I've written on it before and my points stand. Bombs are too limited in supply and slow to use, strong attacks are too slow, oils don't matter that much, and the only SIgns I used are Quen and improved Igni and managed fine on Death March. Just like TW2, the easiest path is pretty much always Quen, attack attack, dodge, Quen, ad nauseum. Even bosses barely require a change of tactics. Thus the combat ends up lacking in variety. The skill system is nice, but mostly just passve bonuses that aren't game changers, and sadly pretty much all equipment is leveled-scaled and generic (including Relic swords) apart from Witcher gear.
Mini-games are also uneven. Gwent is awesome and I love every minute of it. Horse races are very easy and unrewarding. Fist fights are always won by blocking, attack attack, back away, blocking.
Overall, a very good game, best in the Witcher series by a lot, and my favorite game this year, so far at least. I'd say it compares rather evenly with Inquisition, which had worse side-quests and exploration but a more even main quest and better combat mechanics. Mostly, I'm just happy we had three great RPGs (including Pillars of Eternity) from three studios with three design approaches.
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